Record controlled machine



Dec. 124, 1933. w. F. GUTGESELL 1,939,049

RECORD coNTRoLLED MACHINE Filed oet. so, 1951 2 sheets-sheet 1 n? vw ww, Mw O v INVENTOR S QW @M HHI|I -I Y um q B w` 9N. w N N Q m u mm ,Imm Ei- V "d M m l Hv :z inl s n l XN, w m m WN r f e M l nnllllnlhwmunnnhEJlll 1 mNYoa/-Jgf Q N i n S am mm Q m Q Dec. 12, 1933.

w. F. GuTGEsELL RECORD CONTROLLED MACH-INE' Filed oct. 3o, 1951 2 sheets-sheev INVENTOR MWA/ ATTOR EY mv |I-NI m |1l||i| m Nv n o O 0 -v\ m o., muv. n Qmv $m ww 9v O G wm rl 12. Il l! .I-|l\\\ SW 4 mma GO 0 0 @um Wm mm. Q mm, mln Nm mm u I l n; um um A Patented Dec. 12, 1933 RECORD CONTROLLED MACHINE William F. Gutgesell, Endicott, N. Y., assignor, by

mesne assignments, to International Business Machines Corporation, New York, N. Y., a corporation of New York Application October 30, 1931. Serial No. 572,108

11 Claims.

This invention relates to machines for perfo-V rating record. cards similar to those used in the well known Hollerith system of compiling accounting and statistical data wherein perforated index points represent such data. More specilically, the invention relates to perforating machines wherein a master or control card is read by analyzing devices which control perforating mechanism in a fashion to automatically duplicate in a second card certain fields or portions of the master card, such portions of the master card as are duplicated being supplemented in the second card by further data perforated therein under control of suitable keys. Such machines are known in the art as duplicating machines and are very commonly used where data in one or more fields of one card is to be duplicated in one or more other cards. One form of duplicating machine is illustrated in Letters Patent No. 1,772,186 granted August 5, 1930, to Lee and Phillips.

One of the recent developments in the art of constructing and using machines controlled by perforated records is the use of alphabet systems by means of which such data as names and addresses and the like may be represented byv means of perforations in the record cards. One such alphabet system employs the twelve index-point positions of the card column either singly or in combination to represent the letters of the alphabet, the numerals being represented by the ten index-point positions from f0 to "9 while the letters are represented by combinations of the foregoing index-point positions with the 11 and 12" index-point positions. In the tabulating machine the holes representing letters of the alphabet control type bars bearing alphabet types thereon in a manner to cause the printing on the record sheet of the name or address or other data represented by letters.

It is usually the practice to devote a Whole field comprising a number of columns in the record card to the data which necessarily must be expressed in letters of the alphabet and represented in the record card by perforations. As such data commonly takes the form of names with or without accompanying numerals, the names are customarily spaced from each other by a blank co1- umn in the record card in order to provide `for the proper spacing of the names and numerals on the record sheet when the data is printed under control of the record. Since words occurring in the data will vary as tov length and number it will be clear that there will be a variable number of spaces in the different groups of names and numbers representing the names of persons or firms and their post cnice or street address. The following three examples illustrate the foregoing and are spaced as the perforations would ordinarily be spaced in the card and printed on the record sheet:

JOHNRSMITH4 OAKSTALBANYNY JACK OZARK BENSONVILLE MO ALESANDRO DE OLIVA LAS PUNTAS N M Assuming that forty columns of the record card have been assigned to the data concerning a name and address, not an unreasonable number of columns for such a purpose, it would require eight blank or unpunched columns to space the first name and address properly and would leave eight blank columns at the right of the eld since there are twenty-four characters in the entire name and address. The second address has only three blank columns for spacing purposes and twentytwo characters, thereby leaving fifteen unused 76 columns. The third example has twenty-seven characters, six blank spaces, and would leave only seven blank columns to the right. The foregoing assumes that the rst character of the name and address is punched in the rst column of the 80 field devoted to the name and address.

It will be observed by reference to the three illustrative examples just mentioned that each has not only a different number of blank columns for spacing purposes but their location is diiferent in each example. When a card is punched in lthe rst forty columns to represent'alphabet data as in the illustrative examples and it is desired to duplicate the alphabet data in a second blank unpunched card it will be found to be impossible to do so in a machine like that shown in Patent No. 1,772,186, to which reference has already been made, as there are no provisions in said machine for duplicating variably positioned unpunched columns and it is out of the question to resort to the common expedient of punching in the 11 index point of the unused column because the latter represents one of the lettersof the alphabet and would cause such'letter to be printed on the record sheet when the card subsequently is passed through the tabulating machine.

If a card perforated in accordance with the first example given above is used as a master card to control a machine like that of the patent to which reference has been made the following operations would take place: The analyzing device would read in succession the perforations representing the name JOHN and would control the punching mechanism to perforate a blank card withsimilar perforations representing said word,

-mechanism and certain the carriages feeding both cards being spaced one column space after each character is read and the blank card correspondingly. After the last letter N has been read and perforated the card carriage would be spaced automatically to the next column thereby bringing the analyzing device over the blank unpunched column separating the first and second names and bringing the punches over a correspondingv column in the blank card which. of course, is not to be perforated.

As no' perforation appears in the column separating the first two names on the master card the machine would stop and it would be necessary to depress the spacing key in order to thereafter automatically duplicate the second name. In other words, it would be necessary for the operator to depress the spacing key each time the analyzing device senses an unpunched column in the master card.

The present invention has for its broad object the provision of an arrangement to enable the reproducing or duplicating in a blank card of unperforated columns in a master or control card.

A specific object is to provide an arrangement for exactly duplicating in a blank card an entire field of a master card regardless of the number or location of unperforated columns in the master card.

vA further object is to provide mechanism for lduplicating one or more fields of a record card having perforations representing words ornumerals regardless of the number or location of blank columns provided for properly spacing the Words or numerals.

Various other objects, advantages or features of the present invention will be particularly pointed out in the following description and claims or will be apparentafter a study thereof and of the accompanying drawings.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a longitudinal and vertical section through the analyzing devices for the master card.

Fig. 2 is a vertical longitudinal section illustrating the punch operating mechanism and the mechanism for controlling the punch operating magnet.

Fig. 3 is a diagram of the electrical connections of the device.

Fig. 4 is a verticallongitudinal sectionl of the punching mechanism.

Fig. 5 is a rear elevation of the escapement contacts controlled thereby. A

Fig. 6 is an enlarged view showing in operated position certain parts illustrated in Fig. 5.

The present invention will be explained 'with reference to Patent No. 1,772,186 solely for convenience in description and it is desired 'to point out herein that it is not limited to embodiment in the machine shown in said patent but may be used in other machines as well. In order to simplify the description and avoid unnecessary repetition such parts as may be common to the present invention and said patent will be only briefly mentioned hereinand for a more detailed understanding of the parts mentioned reference may be made to the patent.

In the following description it will be assumed that the master cards which are to be duplicated on a blank card will have the first forty columns assigned to alphabetical data comprising the name and address'of a person or iirm and that duplicating of other portion@ 9; the master card is to be suppressed during the punching of the blank card.

Amaster card 8 is placed upon a reading table 9 and is held between rearwardly extending arms 10 attached to the card carriage 11 (Fig. 5)' so that step-by-step movement of the carriage will feed the card 8 toward the left (Fig. 1). During such leftward movement the perforations in the columns of the card 8 will be read by a column of thirteen brushes, brushes l2, 12a mounted in a movable brush holder 13, said brushes cooperating with an insulated contact roll 14 which is rotatably mounted in a housing 15. The thirteenth brush 12a engages the roll 14 outside of the card and serves to connect the latter to the duplicator circuits.

The brushes 12 and 12a are carried by and insulated from a bail 16 which is pivotedto a pair of plates 17 rockably mounted in a fixed part of the frame of the machine. The plates 1'7 are connected by links 18 to a pivoted plate 19 bearing an armature 20 cooperating with a magnet 21. A spring 22normally holds the plate 19in 'the position shown in Fig. 1 with said plate against an adjustable stop 23. The bail 16 is held in a substantially vertical position by a pair of links 24 pivoted to said bail and to fixed parts of the frame of the machine.

The magnet 21 will be hereinafter referred to as the bruth magnet since its function is to raise the brushes 12, 12a into cooperative relation with the contact roll 14.

The object of the peculiar arrangement of links and bails just described is to cause the end of the brushes 12, 12a to rise inI substantially a straight line under the influence. of the magnet 21 until said brushes engage the card when it is between the Contact roll and said brushes. n

Each brush 12, 12a projects through a slot 25 individual to that brush and formed in an insulated member 26 underneath contact roll 14. The slots 25 are so disposed that each brush 12 is prevented from reading any index point position in the card column other than the one it is assigned.

Each brush 12 is provided with a shank 27 which makes contact with a -iiexible contact strip 28 rigidly mounted in a cross bar 29 of insulating material so that said brushes are always con-A nected tothe circuits of the machine whether they be in the position shown in Fig. 1 lor in contact with contact roll 14.

The housing 15 is pivotally mounted at 30 to the machine frame and has attached thereto a strip 31 which is arranged to overlie the master card 8 throughout its entire length when the carriage 11 is in its extreme left hand position (Fig. 1) so as to prevent the master card from buckling on the table 11. 'Ihe strip 31 and the contact roll housing 15 are normally spring-urged upwardly (Fig. 1) but there is provided a spring operated latch 32 engaging the left end of the strip 314 whereby said strip may be latched downward. The extreme left end of the strip 31 is also prolao vided with a. post 33 extending downwardly through an opening in the frame and bearing a strip of insulating material on the lower end thereof which engages one member of a pair of.

its extreme left hand position (Fig. 1) so that the latch 32 may be released to permit the spring to raise the strip 31 and the contactl roll housing. A new master card 8 may then be slipped under the strip 31 between arms 10 and said strip 31 will then be depressed to latching position to hold the master card at on the table 11. As soon as the strip 31 is depressed into latched position the contacts 34 immediately close and energize the magnet 21 thereby causing said magnet to attract its armature 20 so as to draw the links 18 to the left (Fig. 1) and rock plates 17 counterclockwise. This movement raises the bail 16 which is guided by the links 24 so that the brushes 12, 12a rise substantially in a straight line into cooperative relation with the contact roll 14. The brushes 12, 12a remain in this position as long as the contacts 34 are closed;

Thereare asvmany brushes 12 as there are index-point positions in the card column and each brush is connected to a punch operating magnet 35 associated with a punch 36 for the corresponding index-point position. It will be understood that whenever a magnet 35 is energized it will eifect depression of the corresponding manual key 37 and will in a well-known manner force an interposer 38 to the left (Fig.

4) until the end of said interposer overlies the selected punch and is underneath a punch operating plate 39. At the same time a rockable plate 40 having an edge extending into notches formed in all the interposers 38 will be rocked counterclockwise (Fig. 4) to draw up an operating hook 41 which will close a pair of contacts 42 thereby energizing punch operating magnet 43 (Fig. 2). Energization of said magnet causes it to attract its armature 44 drawing a linkI 45 to the right (Fig. 2) thereby rocking a bell crank 46 counterclockwise todraw down a link 47 pivoted to the plate 39. .as a. consequence of the end of the selected interposer being interposed between the plate 39 and the selected punch 36 said punch will be depressed and will make a perforation in the appropriate index-point position oi the blank record card 48 (Fig. 4)

When the plate 39 is depressed in the foregoing iashion, the left end of the selected interposer will, of course, be depressed thereby rocking a bail 49 in a counterclockwise direction` (Fig. 4) to raise an escape dog 50 (Fig. 5) and depress the locking dog 51 into engagement with escapement rack 52, the relation of the dogs being such that the locking dog 51 engages a tooth in the escape rack 52 before the dog 50 becomes fully disengaged from said rack. The dog 50 is pivotally mounted upon an extension of the shaft 53 supporting the bail 49 -and has a slot, the left end of which abuts said shaft. Said dog also has an enlarged hole cooperating with a. pin 54 fixed to a short arm carried by the shaft 53 and is normally spring-urged toward the left by ra spring 55 interposed between a iixed part of the frame and a tail formed in the dog.

When the shaft 53 is rocked by the bail 49, the arm fixed in said shaft carrying the pin 54 will be rocked clockwise (Fig. 5) to raise the dog 50 and disengage the nose of said dog from the rack, prior to which, however, theA locking dog 51 will engage a tooth of the rack. As soon as the nose of dog 50 clears the tooth o f rack 52 which the dog engages, the spring 55 will draw the dog 50 to the left (Fig. 5) so thatthe nose of said dog will overlie the space between the next adjacent teeth to the left (Fig. 5) of the one in which the nose -of said dog formerly engaged.

When the magnet 43 is energized, a projection 56 extending upwardly from and carried by the link 45 urges the lower end of the hook 41 to the right (Fig. 2) so that about the time the armature 44 reaches the limit of its movement to the right the hook 41 will become disengaged from one of the spring contact members carrying the contacts 42 so as to permit said contacts to open immediately thereby deenergizingl the magnet 43 which will then release its armature allowing a spring 57 to rock the plate 39 upwardly (Fig. 4) and permit the selected interposer 38. to rise and thereafter be restored to normal position by means of a spring 58.

As a consequence of the release of the magnet 43, the bail 49 will rock clockwise to its normal position shown in Fig. 4 and the dog 51 will be raised to release the rack 52 which will then move one column space to the left (Fig. 4) or to the right (Fig. 5). Since the dog 50 overlies the interdental space between the next two adjacentto the distance between columns vof the record-r card.

It will thus be seen that each time the brushes 12 encounter a perforation inthe master card 8, one of the magnets ,35 will be energized and will select a punch 36 for operation, the punch selected corresponding, of course, .to the indexpoint position of the perforation read by the brush 12. y

It is desirable that the circuits through the magnets 35 be broken after the magnet 43 has been energized to operate a selected punch or punches and that said circuits remain open until the carriage 11 has completely escaped one column space so that pre-mature energization of the magnets 35 may be prevented. For this purpose there is provided mechanism illustrated in Figs. 5 and 6. o A

Pivotally mounted on the shaft 53 adjacent the dog 5() is a member 59 having a transverse lug 60 overlying the upper edge of the dog 50 so that when said dog is raised by the pin 54 as described the member 59 will be rocked clockwise (Fig. 6). The member 59 has a pin 61 underlying a block of insulating material carried by a spring contact member 62 which is common to two other contact members 63, 64, the contact'members 62, 63, and 64 being mounted upon and insulated from a fixed part of the machine frame and so disposed that when the parts are in the position shown in Figs. 5 and 6, the contact studs of the members 62,64 engage one another. When the-dog 50 is raised by the pin 61 by consequence of the rocking of bail 49 counterclockwise (Fig. 4) the member 59 will be rocked clockwise (Fig. 6) thereby raising the pin 61 and causing the contact studs of members 62, 63 to engage each other, thereby breaking the circuit through the contact studs of the members 62, 64.

The arrangement of the contact members 62, 63 and 64 is such that contact studs in members 62, 63 touch each other before the studs in members v62, 64 break contact so that the circuit through member 62 is never broken down as a consequence of the rocking of dog 50. In order to hold the members 62, 63 in contact with each other until the carriage 11 has fully escaped there is provided mechanism controlledby the rockable f 52. This mechanism comprises a T-shaped member 65 fixed upon a shaft 66 upon which is vfixedly mounted the plate 40.

I edge of lug 68 in member 67.

When the plate 40 is rocked counterclockwise due to the leftward movement of one of the punch interposers .38, the T-shaped member will be rocked clockwise as in Figs. 5 and 6 but the lug 68 will be held by the lug 69 prevented from movement as a consequence of which the spring interposed between the lugs 72 and 68 will be tensioned. After the plate 40 has rocked far enough to close the contacts 42 the magnet 43 will be energized thereby rocking the bail 49 and shaft 53 in a counterclockwise direction (Fig. 4) or a clockwise direction as shown in Fig. 6, to raise the dog 50 and rock the member 59 clockwise. 4

As a consequence of this movement the lug 69 will be carried upwardly and will clear the lug 68 which, it will be remembered, is Iheld stationary by the lug 69 during the rocking of the plate 40, as described, so that the spring between lugs 72, 68 will cause the lug 68 to snap under the lug 69 and prevent the member 59 from being restored when the dog 50 rides down into the next tooth space to the left (Figs. 5 `and. 6) and will be held in this position as until the plate 40 is re-` stored to normal position (Fig. 4).

As a consequence of deenergization of the punch magnet 43, the bail 49 will rock.clockwis e (Fig. 4) and the selected interposer 38 will be restored by its spring 58 thereby permitting the plate 40 to rock back to its normal position as shown in gg. i or in a counterclockwise direction as in The lug 68 is so proportioned that it will not clear the lug 69 in member 59 until the plate 40 has reached its home position. Consequently, the contacts 62, 64 cannot reclose until plate 40 has been permitted to return to its normal position, which, of course, will not happen until the selected interposer has likewise returned to its normal position. The contact members 62, 64 are connected in the circuit to the contact roll 14 through the brush 12a carried by insulating block 15 so that it will be clear that the magnets 35 cannot be energized during the period in which the spring contact members 62, 63 are in contact with each other.

The magnets 35 have a common connection to a bus bar to which is connected the spring con` tact member 63 through a suitable resistance so that magnets 35 and contact member 64 are connected in series and also in parallel with the contact 63 across the line wires 74 (Fig. 3) through a relay magnet 73. i.

When the relay magnet 73 is energized it opens contacts 75 which are in series with a pair of contacts 76, the contacts 75, 76 being inparallel relation with the contacts 42. The contacts 76 are arranged to be closed by the plate 19 whenever the magnet 21 is energized so that it follows that the contacts 76 will be closed whenever the brushes 12 cooperate with contact roll 14 as in the card reading operations. In series with the magnet 21 and contacts 34 is a pair of contacts 77 which are opened whenever the right hand card feed lever is operated to feed a blank card out of the supply magazine into position to be rfed by the card carriage 11.

The contacts 77 are fully described in Patent No. 1,772,186 hereinbefore referred to and, as they are not directly involved herein, it will be presumed that such contacts remain closed as will always be the case while the master cards are being read and blank cards punched in accordancewith the master card.

There is also provided a pair oi.' contacts 78 which are opened whenever the left hand feed lever 79 is operated to manually feed the card carriage 11 to the right (Fig. '1) into position to begin duplicating operations. The construction and operation and purposes of the lever 79 and contacts 78 are likewise fully described in the above patent. It will be assumed that such contacts 78 are closed during duplicating operations and are opened only when it is desired to feed a new blank card into position to be perforated.

Duplicating machines are usually provided with a space key which may be depressed to cause the carriage to escape one column space when it is not desired to punch in a given column but merely to space the carriage one or more spaces preparatory to entering further data.

The space key 37a (Fig. 4) is provided with an interposer 38a which is operated by said key through the medium of a b'ell crank 80 pivoted to a xed part of the frame. One arm of the bell crank cooperates with a slot in the shank of the key 37a while the other arm of said bell crank has a pin engaging a slot 81 formed in the interposer 38a. The left end (Fig. 4) of the interposer 38a normally underlies the plate 39 and is provided with a notch 82 to prevent operation of a punch 36 whenever the plate 39 is depressed by the magnet 43. The notch 82 is necessary for the reason that the space interposer 38a is alongside the interposer for the nine punch 36 and overlies the end of the nine punch 36 so that if the notch 82 were not provided the operation of the plate 39 would cause a perforation to be made in the nine index-point position.

The interposer 38a also hasa notch 83 cooperating with a pin xed to an arm 84 rigidly mounten on the shaft 53 which it will be recalled isrocked whenever the left end of an interposer 38 is depressed owing to the selective action of the key 38. It will thus be seen that depression of the key 37a will rock the bell crank 80 counterclockwise (Fig. 4) and will cause the interposer 38a to move to the left in said figure and thereby rock the shaft 53 through the medium of the arm 84 so as to cause the carriage to escape one column space in exactly the same manner as if the bail required to space the carriage without operating the punch. This construction saves wear and tear on the machine and is a well-known feature of duplicatingvmachines of the ty'pe described in the patent cited above.

As it is undesired that the punch magnet`43 be energized by the operation of the key 37a, the interposer 38a is provided with a long notch or cutaway portion 85 which permits said interposer to move to the-left (Fig. 4) without rocking the 150 plate 40 and shaft 66 so that the contacts 42 will not be closed.

The purpose in having the left end of the interposer 38a underlie the plate 39 at all times is to make it possible to effect spacing movements of the carriage solely through the medium of an energization of the punch magnet 43. It will be obvious, of course, that whenever the punch magnet 43 is energized in a manner later to be described, the plate 39 will be drawn downwardly thereby depressing the interposer 38a and causing the rocking of the bail 49 as described before thereby effecting a spacing operation of the carriage.

The operation of the punching mechanism when duplicating unpunched columns will now be described in detail.

Whenever a perforation occurs in any index point of a card column, one of the magnets 35 will be energized by reason of a brush 12 sensing a perforation in the card column read by the brushes 12 and the machine will operate in the manner already described to effect punching of the corresponding index-point position in the same column of the blank record card 48. The relay magnet 73 is designed to operate faster than the punch selecting magnets 35 so that before a selected magnet 35 can operate its associated interposer 38 to close contacts 42, the contacts 'l5 will be opened with the consequence that a perforation will be made in the blank card according to the index point position read by a brush 12 and, of course, the carriage will escape to the next column.

The lifting of the .dog 50 causes the contact members 62, 63 to make contact without, however, breaking the circuit through contact member 62, 64 until the circuit has been established through the member 62, 63 with the consequence that the magnet 73 will not be deenergized so that contacts 75 will remain open. When the contacts 62, 64 again close after the carriage has fully escaped, the circuit will be reestablished through a magnet 35 without breaking the circuit through the relay magnet 73, provided the brushes 12 sense a perforation in the next column of the master card.

If it should happen that there is no perforation in the next column of the master card, no circuit will be established through a magnet 35 with the consequence that the relay magnet 73 will be deenergized and the contacts 'I5 Willclose thereby establishing a circuit through the punch magnet 43 which will immediately attract its armature and cause the carriage to escape one column space in the manner previously described.

'Ihe magnet 73 is purposely made quick acting in order to open the contacts 75 and hold them open so as to prevent energization of the punch magnet 43 before the selected interposer 38 has become fully moved to the left (Fig. 4) at which time, of course, the contacts 42 will be vclosed by the rocking of plate 40 in the usual manner.

As the relay contacts 'l5 must necessarily be made very light in order to make them ope`n before ,the magnets 35 become fully effective, it is desirable that the arc due Jto breaking the circuit through the magnet 43 be cared for elsewhere in order to avoid burning of the contacts '15. For this reason, mechanism is provided to close the contacts 42 although a punch selecting magnet 35 has not been operated.

To this end the link 47 is provided with a bentover portion 86 which overlies a bracket 87 attached to the plate 40, the bent-over portion 86 being provided with an adjusting screw to regulate the'cooperative relation of the parts.

Whenever the magnet 43 is energized to effect either a punching operation or a spacing operation, the link 47 will be drawn downwardly thereby causing the bent-over portion 86 to depress the bracket 87 carried by the plate 40 and thereby rock the plate 40 counterclockwise (Fig. 2) to effect closure of contacts 42 which, of course, will re-open in the usual manner when the armature 44 of magnet 43 has reached the end of its stroke.

The contacts 42 are purposely made very sturdy and designed to open quickly in order to take care of the arc which is always in evidence when an inductive circuit is broken.

The foregoing construction enables the machine to duplicate an entire field or elds of a record card regardless of the presence or location of unpunched columns in said elds and if desired, an entire card may be duplicated regardless of how many unpunched columns there may be in the card. Since the machine automatically canies the reading devices over the unpunched columns, a punching operation will occur only in case a brush 12 reads a perforation, in which event the magnet 73 will open the'contacts 75 in advance of the complete operation of a punch selecting magnet 35lso that whenever a perforation occurs the machine performs its usual duplicating function but if a perforation is absent, the relay magnet 73 Ibecomes deenergized and closes the circuit through the punch magnet 43 to cause the machine to escape one column space and will repeat this action until a perforation is again sensed.

It will be clear that the foregoing construction is a decided advantage in duplicating names and addresses of an alphabet field where the variability of the spacing between the diierent parts of the name and address makes it impossible to use a special skip bar for causing the machine to skip the proper columns and avoids the necessity o1' depressing the space key 37a 120 every time the machine stops on an unpunched column as is the case in machines where the present invention is not used.

Another. advantage of the present construction is the ability of the machine to duplicate 125 amounts regardless of the number of perforations or the location in any field of the perforations representing such amounts. Thus, if desired, an entire blank card might be duplicated without the necessity of using any special skip 130 bars since the operation of spacing an unpunched column is performed so rapidly that the machine would run over a whole series of unpunched columns at a very fast rate comparing favorably with the rate at which the machine 135 equipped with a skip bar skips blank fields or unpunched columns. It will be clear, therefore, that skip bars may be dispensed with entirely and the machine may be caused to stop at the desired position by means of the usual i4() column cut-out described in the patent referred to hereinbefore.

The machine is, therefore, a decided improvement over prior machines wherein it was necessary to use Askip bars specially cut for each card 145 set up. In order to avoid wear and tear on the machine due to excessive operation of the punch magnet 43, it may be desired at times to use a special skip bar particularly where a large number of columns are to be skipped. However, 150

it is not necessary to use such a skip bar as the machine can space the carriage through as many unpunched columns as may be desired.

The present invention has been illustrated and described as embodied in a specific form in a certain type of duplicating machine of specific construction, however, it is desired to point out herein that it is not limited to such specific embodiment `or machine illustrated and described but may be varied as to detail or arrangement in order to adapt the invention to other machines.

I claim:

1. In combination, selecting devices, card reading devices for controlling the selecting devices in accordance with data designations in a control card, means normally operating to effect a continual relative feeding movement between said card and the reading devices, and means controlled through the reading devices for preventing operation of the lfeeding means until after the selecting devices have been operated in accordance with a data designation in the card.

2. In a duplicating machine, mechanism for reading successive columns of a master card including card reading elements, a card carriage for said master card movable relative to the reading elements, feeding means normally operating to feed the card carriage continually relative to the reading elements whereby to cause the reading elements to read successively the columns of the master card, punching mechanism controlled by the card reading mechanism and operable to punch a blank card in accordance with perforations read by the reading elements, and means controlled by the card reading elements for rendering the feeding means ineffective until after the punching mechanism has completed an operation.

3. In combination, card reading devices, a card carriage movable relative to the reading devices, selecting devices controlled by the card reading devices in accordance with data designations in a card carried by the card carriage, means normally causing a continual step-by-step feed of the card carriage relative to the reading devices, and means controlled through the reading devices for delaying the feeding means on the occurrence of'a data designation in the card until after the selecting devices have been operated.

4. A duplicating machine comprising card reading elements and a master card carriage relatively movable thereto for reading successively the columns of a master card on said carriage, and punching mechanism controlled by the card reading elements in accordance with data designating perforations in the master card columns, f

characterized by the provision of feeding mechanism normally operating to feed the card carriage relative to the card reading elementsA and means controlled by the card reading elements for rendering the feeding mechanism ineffective until after the punching mechanism has operated to punch in accordance with a perforation in a card column.

5. In combination, a carriage for a master card having provisions for feeding a blank card, reading means for the master card, and punching mechanism controlled by the reading means for punching the blank card in accordance with data designations on the master card, means for constantly feeding the blank card relative to the punching mechanism, and means controlled by a data designation in the master card for preventtions of a master card, selecting mechanism controlled by the reading mechanism in' accordance with a data designation in the master card, feeding mechanism for feeding the master card relative to the reading mechanism irrespective of the absence of a data designation from the master card, and means controlled by a data designation in the master card for delaying the operation of the feeding means until after the selecting mechanism has been controlled in accordance with said designation.

'7. In a machine of the class described, a control record having data designations, a sensing device for analyzing said designations, mechanism selectively controlled by said device in accordance with said designations, means for effecting a constant feeding movement between said device and the control record to analyze the data designations, and means controlled through the sensing device for momentarily interrupting operation of the feeding mechanism when the sensing device encounters a data designation.

8. A reproducing machine comprising a control element bearing arbitraryldata represented by data designations such as differentially disposed perforations, mechanism adapted to be selectively controlled by the data designations in the control element according to the differential disposition of the data designations, analyzing mechanism for sensing said data designations and controlling the first named mechanism in accordance with said designations, means for constantly feeding the control element and analyzing mechanism relative to each other to cause the analyzing mechanism to traverse the control element, and means controlled through the analyzing mechanism for interrupting operation of the feeding means each time the analyzing mechanism senses a data designation.

9. In a machine of the class described, a control record bearing arbitrary data represented by data designations such as perforations, electrical sensing elements for reading said data designations successively, feeding mechanism constantly feeding said record and sensing elements relative to each other to read said designations succes- .sively including an operating magnet and a circuit therefor, and means in circuit with the sensencounter a data designation.

10. A reproducing machine comprising a. control element bearing arbitrary data represented by data designations such as differentially disposed perforations, mechanism adapted to be selectively controlled by the data designations in 'the control element according to the differential disposition of the data designations, analyzing mechanism for sensing said data designations and controlling the rst named mechanism, means for constantly feeding the control element and analyzing mechanism relative to each other to cause the analyzing mechanism to traverse the control element, means controlled .through the analyzing mechanism for interrupting the opera.- tion of the feeding means each time the analyzing mechanism senses a data designation, and means controlled by the selectively controlled mechanism for restoring to operation the feeding means when the selectively operated.mechanism has completed an operation.

cuit therefor, means in circuit with the sensing elements for interrupting the circuit for the operating magnet when the sensing elements en-v counter a. data designation, selecting mechanism controlled by the sensing elements, and means controlled by the selecting mechanism for closing the circuit for said magnet when the selecting mechanism completes an operation whereby to .restore operation ofthe feeding mechanism. n WM. F. GUTGESELL.

las 

